Bankruptcy attorney turns in peak performances at 64.

IT appears there is no mountain too high for Bill Burke, a 64-year-old bankruptcy attorney with Sheppard Muffin Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles.

Burke recently climbed 16,067 feet to reach the peak of Vinson Massif in Antarctica. Next month he'll climb Mt. Kosciuszko (7,310 feet), the highest mountain in Australia and the Carstensz Pyramid (16,023 feet) in West Papua, Indonesia. Then he'll only have Mt. Everest to scale in order to have completed the Seven Summits.

That's an impressive feat for mountain climbers of any age, even more so for a person who could be considered a senior citizen.

"There's been a lot of people over 60 who have made it to the top of Everest," Burke said. "But I don't know how many people have scaled all seven summits after the age of 60."

Burke has already climbed Alaska's Mt. McKinley (20,320 feet), Argentina's Aconcagua (22,834 feet), Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,339 feet) in Tanzania and Russia's Elbrus (18,510 feet).

There is a summit on each continent, but there is some disagreement in the mountain climbing community as to whether the seventh continent is Australia or Oceania. That's why Burke is climbing both Mt. Kosciuszko and the Carstensz Pyramid. He'll climb eight summits so he can claim the achievement, regardless of how it's broken down.

Burke admits his family is not keen on his avocation. His wife, four children and 14 grandchildren have all taken a dim perspective of his exploits. After all, he didn't start climbing until 1996, when he was living and working in Asia.

"They're not really thrilled about these big mountain trips or this upcoming trip to Everest," said Burke, who plans to climb the world's highest mountain in 2007. "They've adjusted. I wouldn't say they're happy but they understand."